Cue tip dressing device

ABSTRACT

A cue tip dressing device including a rigid disk holder body defining a circular cavity and a replaceable abrasive disk. The cavity has a concave bottom wall and an annular inwardly facing side wall, the diameter of which side wall is sufficiently smaller than the outer diameter of the disk to radially constrict the same and retain the disk in a concavo-convex configuration adjacent the bottom wall of the cavity.

United States Patent 1 Kritske I 1 Nov. 6, 1973 CUE TIP DRESSING DEVICE [76] Inventor: Victor J. Kritske, 1705 S. 17th St.,

Sheboygan, Wis. 53081 22 Filed: Jan. 12, 1972 21 Appl. No.: 217,353

Primary Examiner-Othell M. Simpson AttorneyVernon J. Pillote [5 7] ABSTRACT A cue tip dressing device including a rigid disk holder body defining a circular cavity and a replaceable abrasive disk. The cavity has a concave bottom wall and an annular inwardly facing side wall, the diameter of which side wall is sufficiently smaller than the outer diameter of the disk to radially constrict the same and re- [561 References Cited tain the disk in a concave-convex configuration adja- UNITED STATES PATENTS cent the bottom wall of the cavity.

284,548 9/1883 Gwyn 145/27 1,955,848 4/1934 Dunn.... 51/211 H 1,259,136 3/1918 Rogers 145/27 2 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 338,346 11/1930 Great Britain 5 1/2l1 l'l l/ I 7 18 a.

CUE TIP DRESSING DEVICE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It is desirable from time-to-time to dress the convex end on a cue stick to roughen the tip, remove the glaze and provide a nap which is more receptive to receiving cue chalk. A concave abrasive surface markedly facilitates dressing the end of the cue stick while maintaining the desired convex shape. However, the abrasive surface tends to become loaded and/r worn with usage. The-present invention relates to a cue tip dressing device in which normally flat abrasive disks are removably held in a disk holder in a manner to provide a smooth concave abrasive surface for dressing the end of the cue stick. The disks are removably retained in the holder so that they can be removed and replaced with new disks or disks of different grit.

Various objects of this invention are to provide a cue tip. dressing device which shapes and retains normally flat abrasive disks in a concavo-convex configuration for use in dressing the end of a cue stick; in which the abrasive disks are removably retained in a disk holder to enable replacement of the disks with new disks or disks of different grit; and which is economical to manufacture. These, together with other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following detailed description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating the use of the cue tip dressing device to dress the end face of a cue stick;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of one embodiment of a disk holder illustrating the same in approximately twice full scale;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of an abrasive disk for use in the holder of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an exploded sectional view of an abrasive disk and disk holder taken on the plane 3--3 and showing the same on approximatelyfour times full scale;

FIG. 5 is a transverse sectional view through the cue tip dressing device showing the disk assembled into the disk holder;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the disk holder of a modified form of cue tip dressing device shown on approximately twice full scale;

FIG. 7 is an explodedsectional view through the disk and disk holder, showing the parts on approximately four times full size; and

FIG. 8 is a sectionalview through the modified form of disk holder shown in FIG. 6.

The cue tip dressing device of the present invention utilizes flat circular abrasive disks 10 and a disk holder 11 that defines a disk receiving cavity for receiving and shaping the abrasive disk into a concave-convex configuration to provide a concave abrasive surface for facing the convex end of a cue stick 13. The abrasive disks can conveniently be cut from sheets or rolls of conventional abrasive material. However, in order to provide disks which are sufficiently pliable to enable deformation into the desired concavo-convex configuration without deleterious folding or wrinkling, the abrasive disks are preferably formed from cloth type sheet abrasive material having a heavy cloth back indicated at 14 in FIG. 5 with the abrasive particles 15 bonded to one side of the cloth backing.

The disk holder 11 comprises a generally rigid body formed of any suitable material such as metal, plastic or the like. The cavity 12 in the bodyhas a shallow dished bottom wall 16 and an annular inwardly facing side wall 17- extending around the periphery of the bottom wall. In the embodiment shown, the bottom wall 16 is generally spherically concave and isformed with a radius of curvature substantially larger than the inner radius of the annular side wall 17 so that theconcave bottom wall is substantially less than a hemisphere. The abrasive disks 10 are formed with an outer diameter approximately equal to but preferably slightly less than the diametral curve length of the concave bottom wall 16 and substantially greater than the internal diameter of the annular side wall 17 so as to be radially constricted and retained by the annular side wall in a concavo-convex configuration adjacent the bottom wall, when the disk is pressed into the cavity. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1-5, the annular side wall 17 is of generally cylindrical configuration and the disk holder is provided with an inwardly extending flange 18 on the annular side wall 17, which flange is spaced above the bottom wall 16, in the region adjacent the juncture of the bottom wall with the annular side wall, a distance such that the inwardly directed flange 18 engages the abrasive particles on the upper surface of the disk 10 as shown in FIG. 5, to inhibit rotation of thedisk relative to the holder, during use in dressing a cue stick. The flange 18 is made relatively narrow and is preferably chamfered at its upperside as indicated at 18a to facilitate passage of the abrasive disk past the flange and into the cavity 12. After the disk hasbeen pressed into the cavity, it' willtend to regain its normally flattened shape and will accordingly tend to shift away from the bottom wall as shown in FIG. 5. However, the periphery of the abrasive disk will engage and be radially confined by the annular side wallv 17 so that the disk will remain in a concavo-convex configuration as shown in FIG..5. By way of example, the abrasive disks can beforrned with an outer diameter of 1 inch and, with the bottom wall having an arc radius of about twenty-one thirty-seconds inch, the inner diameter of the annular side wall'16 should'be about 0.96 inch to radially constrict the l-inch diameter disks to a concavo-convexconfigur'ation that will extend closely adjacent the bottom wall 16. With the above dimensions of the bottom and side walls of the disk holder, the bottom wall will have a diametral curve length of about 1.05 inches or slightly more than the normal flat diameter of the disk. However, the annular side wall has a diameter of 0.96 inch which is substantially less than the flat diameter of the disk and sufficient to retain the disk in a concavo-convex configuration.

As noted above, the spacing between the flange 18 and the bottom wall, adjacent'the juncture of the bottom wall with the side wall, is made such that the flange will engage the abrasive on the disk adjacent its outer periphery. For abrasives having course and medium grits, the spacing can be of the order of about 0.060 inch. However, for abrasive disks having relatively finer grit,a somewhat closer spacing between the flange and the bottom wall should be utilized so as to cause the flange to engage the grit on the face of the disk when cavity for replacement with new disks or disks of different grit, an opening or passage 20 is provided in the body, preferably centrally of the bottom wall 16, to allow insertion of a small rod or similar instrument (not shown) therethrough to eject the disk from the cavity. The outer face of the disk holder body is conveniently knurled to facilitate holding of the dressing device in the fingers of the user.

A modified form of cue tip dressing tool is shown in FIGS. 6-8 and like numerals followed by the subscript prime are used to designate corresponding parts. In this embodiment, the disk holder body is arranged to facilitate molding of the body and the body may be formed from plastic, metal or the like. In general, the body defines a cavity 12 having a dished bottom wall 16' and an annular inwardly facing side wall 17' around the periphery of the bottom wall. The bottom wall 16 is also shown generally spherically concave and has a diametral curve length approximately equal to the normally flat diameter of the disk 10. The inner diameter of the side wall 17 is substantially less than the normal flat diameter of the disk to radially constrict the disk when it is pressed into the cavity and retain the disk in a concavo-convex configuration as shown in FIG. 8. The side wall 17' has a generally cylindrical configuration which may be formed with a slight upward draft to facilitate retraction of the male mold element from the cavity, during forming of the body. By way of example, for a disk of 1-inch diameter, the bottom wall 16' can be formed with an arc radius of approximately fiveeighths inch and the side wall 17' formed with an inner diameter of about fifteen-sixteenths inch. In order to inhibit turning of the abrasive disk relative to the cavity, and to also aid in holding the same in the cavity, the underside of the abrasive disk 10' is preferably provided with a tacky adhesive coating indicated at 21' of a type adapted to form a peelable bond with the bottom wall of the cavity. Such peelable adhesive type coatings are well known and need not be described in detail. In order to facilitate removal of the abrasive disks from the holder, for replacement with a new disk of different grit, an opening is preferably provided in the holder and located centrally of the bottom wall 16 to allow passage of a rod or similar instrument therethrough. The outer wall of the disk holder body can be of cylindrical configuration as shown and may be knurled or otherwise shaped to facilitate gripping of the holder by the fingers ofa user. In order to facilitate guiding of the disks into the cavity, a chamfer 22 is provided on the upper edge of the side wall.

From the foregoing it is thought that the construction and use of the cue tip dressing device will be readily understood. The pliable abrasive disks can be pressed into the cavities of the disk holder bodies by any suitable blunt instrument, for example the end of a cue stick and, when pressed into the cavity, the pliable disks are deformed to a concavo-convex configuration and are retained in this configuration by the annular side walls. The concave bottom wall not only aids in shaping the disk to the desired concavo-convex configuration, but also supports the underside of the disk during use of the dressing device to dress the ends of a cue stick. When the abrasive disk becomes loaded with abraded material or worn, or when it is desired to replace the disk with a disk of different grit, the disks can be removed from the cavity in the disk holder body and a new disk pressed into the cavity.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

l. A cue tip dressing device for facing the convex end face on a cue stick comprising: a rigid disk holder body defining a circular cavity having a spherically concave bottom wall and an annular inwardly facing side wall around the outer periphery of the concave bottom wall and a narrow annular flange extending inwardly from the annular side wall and spaced above the bottom wall a distance to engage the abrasive side of the disk adjacent the periphery thereof, said concave bottom wall having an arc radius greater than the radius of said annular side wall whereby the concave bottom wall is substantially less than a hemisphere, a normally flat circular abrasive disk removably disposed in said cavity having a pliable backing sheet and an abrasive coating on one side of the backing sheet, the abrasive disk having an outer diameter when flat which is slightly less than the diametral curve length of the concave bottom wall and sufficiently greater than the internal diameter of said annular side wall to be radially constricted and retained by the annular side wall in a spherically concavo-convex configuration that is slightly shallower than the concave bottom wall.

2. A cue tip dressing device according to claim 1 wherein said body has an opening extending therethrough and intersecting said concave bottom wall generally axially thereof to allow passage of an instrument therethrough into engagement with the convex underside of the abrasive disk to eject the same. 

1. A cue tip dressing device for facing the convex end face on a cue stick comprising: a rigid disk holder body defining a circular cavity having a spherically concave bottom wall and an annular inwardly facing side wall around the outer periphery of the concave bottom wall and a narrow annular flange extending inwardly from the annular side wall and spaced above the bottom wall a distance to engage the abrasive side of the disk adjacent the periphery thereof, said concave bottom wall having an arc radius greater than the radius of said annular side wall whereby the concave bottom wall is substantialLy less than a hemisphere, a normally flat circular abrasive disk removably disposed in said cavity having a pliable backing sheet and an abrasive coating on one side of the backing sheet, the abrasive disk having an outer diameter when flat which is slightly less than the diametral curve length of the concave bottom wall and sufficiently greater than the internal diameter of said annular side wall to be radially constricted and retained by the annular side wall in a spherically concavo-convex configuration that is slightly shallower than the concave bottom wall.
 2. A cue tip dressing device according to claim 1 wherein said body has an opening extending therethrough and intersecting said concave bottom wall generally axially thereof to allow passage of an instrument therethrough into engagement with the convex underside of the abrasive disk to eject the same. 